I don't really believe into burn in. Ears and mind adjusting to the sound - yes. Burn in - no. DAC burn in I think is just lunacy! 100 hours speakers and headphones burn in... I doubt it. Also drivers in speakers and headphones get tested at the factory to some extend. High end brand must test them to a good extend... Would that be a burn in process? I just don't see high end equipment change sound after first 100 hours significantly. My opinion...

To each their own. When you own 4000 pairs of headphones and all you do is listen to music and review them.. you can hear a difference which is Zeos case.
I personally have had it happen with a bunch of headphones. The SHP9000S for example had just a tiny bit too much rasp on the high end, burned em in for about 5 hours and it became warm and welcoming. Songs that use to crack my ears now sound as they are supposed to be.
As Z said, to each their own. This argument may as well be what came first, the chicken or the egg?

Zeos is quite entertaining, but he certainly can't hear any difference... His reviews are often so off that it is no even funny... Also most of his reviews do not say anything about the sound. He either likes it or don't. Build, wire, fit, etc. But not much about sound... I do find him helpful, but after a couple of his reviews that totally don't make any sense I now think whatever he says needs to be filtered... Example is Shure 1540 which he hated... So I can't argue that some thing will change. Some headphones, some speakers. But in general burn in a myth... Same as cables that change sound. People believe what they want to believe... DAC burn in... Oh please...

Sure your ears adjust, and I don't know how noticeable it would be to the ear compared to the number of hours and how slow that process is.
However, if you were to compare a fresh pair VS something with 300 hours, you could measure the difference.
Keep in mind that any decent pair of cans has some hours of testing on it before you even open the box too!

Could you imagine his comment section if he started doing recommendations based on "mouth-feel" and subjectivity? He is neutral like a good DAC in that sense.
Edit: Oh i know, DAC burn in? lol. Sounds neat, but that mainly applies to drivers. And maybe an amp that has never been warm once.

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KJ741N

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ld100

DAC burn-in! LOL.. yes, I suppose the wire and the solder sort of "loosen-up" and allow the electrons to flow "differently", suppose? LOL.. humans are funny creatures.

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KJ741N

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"hours of testing"? I'll bet the typical set of headphones is tested at the factory for a few seconds at most.

I didn't say days, however in the following link they say 2 days manufacturing, 2 days testing, by 15 different people (2 days seems excessive, I know haha). This is part of the reason high quality headphones are so damn expensive. It's not all smoke and mirrors.
http://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2015/07/17/spc-traders-audeze.cnn
I'm sure there are plenty of examples like this but I'm too lazy to hunt for more evidence.
Edit: woops not 15 people, I misinterpreted that.

DACs do not have analog section. Do you mean an amp? If yes then maybe, but still not a proven fact. DAC is a digital to analog converter. There is nothing to burn there. It is all zeros and ones. No matter how long you burn the results are will be the same.

Agree. Burn it all you want it will be the same... There is some bizarre thing about leaving Shiit multibit dacs on for 24 hours which comes straight from the maker that I just don't get. I just don't see how that would make a difference...